Sleazebuster replaces Alan Duncan over 'rations' outburst

Tory grandee Sir George Young was appointed to replace Alan Duncan today as the Conservatives moved to kill off the "rations" affair.

David Cameron brought the former minister back to the front line in a bid to curb the damage caused by Mr Duncan's complaint that MPs were now being forced to live in penury.

Sir George, who chaired the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee, was a serious figure with a record as a reformer, Mr Cameron said.

But Labour attacked the appointment, pointing out that the Etonian baronet had hired his family to work in the Commons and had voted against MPs being forced to publish all their expense receipts.

Mr Duncan was kicked out of the shadow Cabinet last night over his secretly filmed outburst that MPs were being "treated like sh*t" and being forced to "live on rations".

The Tory MP was ordered to apologise after the Standard exposed his remarks last month.

Mr Cameron said at the time that his colleague had made a "bad mistake" but added "we should leave it at that".

Today, Mr Cameron changed his stance and said he had decided to act after having had "time to reflect" on the need to reshape his top team and toughen the message on expenses.

Sir George, nicknamed the "bicycling baronet" during his tenure in John Major's government, is seen by Tory high command as the perfect antidote to Mr Duncan's image.

Mr Cameron today praised him as "one of the most respected Members of Parliament" who had a "long track record" of wanting to reform the Commons.

Mr Duncan was demoted to the post of shadow prisons minister.

Mr Duncan put out a statement that it was a "sensible decision".

"What matters most is winning the election and David Cameron becoming the Prime Minister," he said.

"I don't want to be a brake on that by making a difficult issue more problematic."

Environment campaigner Heydon Prowse, who filmed Mr Duncan making the comments, told the Standard: "This is a cosmetic change made by David Cameron.

"Of course Alan is not the person to lead expenses reform in the Tory party, but this has nothing to do with political integrity or Dave would have fired Alan ages ago."